THE CYPRUS WEEKLY By Andrianne Philippou DECEMBER 3 - 9, 2010 LIMASSOL 43 What's on Limassol town centre Christmas tree to be lit at 5pm, Grigori Afxentiou Square on Saturday, December 4. Carol singing and music from 5pm, lights up at 6pm. MY MALL Christmas tree lights go on at 6.30pm Saturday, December 4 – this will be the tallest Swarovski decorated Christmas tree in Europe – MY MALL, Zakaki. The Premiere Group presents the classic pantomime PETER PAN – at Polemidia Municipality Theatre on Saturday, December 11 and Sunday, December 12, at 4pm and 7.30pm. Price: €10 for adults; €7 for children (16 and under). Call: 99 987908 for more details and tickets. Limassol Theatre Arts School presents ‘A Winter Wonderland’ – delightful musical dance concert from the children of the Limassol Theatre Arts School. Tickets can be purchased at the door on show days – but limited seating available so please arrive early. Shows are at 7pm on Saturday, December 4 and Sunday, December 5. Theatre is at 13, Panathineon Street, 3031, Limassol. Tickets €5. For more information please email: [email protected] or tel: 99324123. The Rialto Theatre – full December programme available of music, theatre and dance performances, please visit the website: www.rialto.com.cy or call: 7777 7745 for further information Arts and crafts exhibitions: Until December 20 – handicraft and painting exhibition at Melody Café, 66A, Ayias Fylaxeos Street - Thalia Panopoulou Paquot and Anastasia Konstantinou. Until December 17 – A contemporary Cypriot Art Exhibition by 30 Cypriot artists at the Carob Mill behind the Limassol Castle. Organised by the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture. Please contact Cultural Services: 25 745919 for more information. Organised by the Limassol Municipality – throughout December, art exhibitions and lectures will be presented on various dates at various times, including paintings, textile and furniture, jewellery, Byzantine iconography and installations. Lectures will feature prose and poetry readings – venues at different locations in Limassol city centre. Please contact Cultural Services: 25 745919 or visit website for full itinerary: www.limassolmunicipality.com ‘Mumpreneur’ on a mission to help C arine Khoury set u p h e r ‘ w w w. mu m s i n c y p r u s . com’ website less than a year ago, yet with the anniversary candles barely extinguished, she is already into the advanced stages of her second new venture, ‘The Maternity Wardrobe’. And with both her boys still under four years of age, the demands on her time must be considerable. With ‘mumsincyprus’, Carine wanted to develop a website “that was made by mothers, for mothers and about mothers in Cyprus”; packed with valuable information in a supportive online environment that shares resources, advice and practical tips. Although a virtual site, the contacts and friendships that grow from the membership base develop to become ‘real world’ relationships through the regular courses and social events she organises islandwide, for everyone who has signed up to join the ‘mumsincyprus’ community. There are plenty of opportunities to learn practical skills (Paediatric First Aid/CPR training are two of the most recent courses offered), as well as language groups to help the multi-cultural, multi ethnic members to connect and communicate. There is a ‘Rent a mum’ babysitting service to help new mums find ty’ with a more balanced platform that offers informed choice and advice for members without the ‘hard sell’ approach. Carine looks at her growing business as the perfect marriage of time and circumstance: “I am privileged…I can balance the hours…I work when the boys are at nursery in the mornings, keep afternoons free for the children then when they are tucked in for the night I get back online…plus it helps that my family are so supportive”. So for this creative career woman, developing a complementary business ‘The Maternity Wardrobe’ was a natural progression. “Cyprus loves children and families, but I don’t think society here has fully embraced the pregnant woman yet”. So Carine has spent time developing an online boutique service for evening and formal maternity wear which is available to buy or loan, for that diff icult nine month period of pregnancy when women never seem to have exactly the right garment to wear for that specific occasion. “It will offer a financially smart way to wear glamorous maternity designs during that ‘uncommercial’ mum-to-be period which is not at all catered for”. So for any new or aspiring ‘mums-to-be’ visit the website on: www. mumsincyprus.com HAPPY MUM: Carine with sons Lenny and Darian potential baby minders at short notice, especially useful if they are new to the island and haven’t yet built up a network or social group to tap into. Plus there are the regular social events where new mums can “simply make new friends and share experiences”, together with discussion forums and blogs where members can inform and share specific news, skills and services with each other. From the site creation in January, there are now 650 registered members with groups growing across the island in towns stretching from Paralimni to Paphos. Carine is thrilled with the positive feedback she receives “what’s great is the trust that is building up within the members who’ve already registered; this has taken time but now, for example, we have single mums who are actually ‘coming out’ about their status and not feeling they have to hide behind what is still considered a social stigma here”. With the growing interest in the site and user numbers rising daily, Carine believes she will soon have to consider alternative sources of directory information for the site. So far, one of the successful elements that differentiates ‘mumsincyprus’ is that it is essentially ‘ad free’ however, with increasing demands from her members, she is exploring ways to maintain this ‘ad free integri- L I M A S S O L N O T E S Empowerment and freedom Up close and personal this week; I’ve decided to share a deep and meaningful revelation with you all so I hope you’re sitting comfortably here it is: I have absolutely no regrets about the decisions By Andrianne I’ve taken Philippou in my life. None, not one. There, I’ve said it. Here I am inching towards my fifth decade, a ‘normal’, single mum of two boys, always broke, always smiling, always hopeful. Well, nearly always! The point is I am quite content with the decisions I have taken in my life. Not that they’ve all worked out the way I thought or hoped they would. Sometimes they’ve been disasters, actually. Sometimes painful and sometimes too swayed by emotion (although I’m getting better at this, finally). However, the bottom line is they were my decisions, so I’ve only myself to blame if they turned out to be the wrong ones. Well, last Saturday I made a decision to walk barefoot on 500ºC burning hot coals, my first ever Firewalk experience. Why? What on earth possessed me to do this? I certainly didn’t make a big issue of the fact to my parents (for obvious reasons) and my son, who saw the flyers in my car and on my office desk was horrified, worrying mummy would burn her feet. So my decision was not without its detractors. So why did I do it? It’s difficult to pin down really, the absolute reason why. There were many factors, but I guess the ultimate reason was to prove something to myself, to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. To propel myself out of my comfort zone and discover my hidden strengths and power within? Who knows? The only certainty for me was that this experience offered a life choice I might never have another opportunity to try again…how could I not do it? I was excited, nervous yet determined to ‘go for it’, so I did! The Firewalk was the climax to an exhilarating life-transforming seminar presented by Christian Schnubel. As a motivational speaker trained by the legendary American life coach Anthony Robbins, Christian has spent more than 15 years transforming people’s lives and helping them change their belief systems in highly charged seminars and workshops across Europe. You know the type of ‘mind-blowing’ events I’m talking about; totally driven, focused, high-impact powerful presentations, workshops, role play, interactive with plenty of cheering, clapping and self affirming pep talks firing everyone up to feel good about themselves, to get out there and ‘do it’. Now I’m sure there are some who are reading this column right now thinking ‘what a load of pseudo-American psychobabble... what total nonsense’. And for them that’s exactly what it is; after all, it’s their decision to think that and to believe it. But that illustrates my point beautifully – our decisions define us and we are in turn defined by our decisions. Why limit ourselves in this way? Scary, I know, but I can’t tell you how empowered and liberated I felt the moment I stepped off the hot coals. That amazing realisation that I had pushed myself way out of my comfort zone and achieved something that logic dictates is dangerous and impossible. By whose standards? What more are we humans capable of achieving if we rethink our life-held limiting belief systems, change our attitudes, take a different decision? I would love to have seen some of our ‘leaders’ on those hot coals… Who knows what decisions they might be capable of making after a Firewalk?